I managed to sleep in til almost noon today which, normally, I’d feel bad about, but hey, it’s Saturday, so bring on sleeping late!  

I went for a walk in the park and finally remembered to bring my binoculars that Tracey gave me for Christmas.  Sorta neat to be able to see some of the birds and stuff closer up, but there weren’t a ton out today for me to look at. Still cool, though.  I sat on one of the benches and read some of Eat, Pray, Love, though it was a bit too cool for the most part to stay out there long.  For a couple of minutes, the sun peeked through the clouds and the warmth was really nice and I can’t wait for it to warm up enough to go hang out at the park for a while and just read, draw or whatever. 

I was hoping for warmer weather this weekend to be able to do just that and it seems like it’s going to rain tomorrow, so my plans for an outdoorsy weekend may be dashed.  Who knows, though…sometimes, the forecast is wrong and it’s warm and sunny when they swear we’re going to have snow flurries.

My stomach was rumbling, so I got up to finish my walk and saw this old lady that I have seen in the park a bunch of times – typical old-lady haircut – short, curled and very tidy, with glasses and always carrying a bag of some sort.  Recently, I’ve started saying hello to her when I see her in the park.  I just figured if you see someone all the time and start to recognize them and they surely recognize you, too, you should introduce yourself. Obviously, she shares the same love of the park that I do since she’s in there all the time.  So, I caught up to her and turned around and said I figured I should introduce myself and asked her name. Hannah (hahn-ah), she replied.  She had an accent and I asked where she is from and she said Russia.  I tried to tell her I was from Louisiana and she said her English wasn’t that great.  She said, “This park is my health.” and I nodded in agreement, saying “Me, too. It’s so beautiful here and a great way to get some exercise!” and I asked where in Russia she’s from and she said Belarus, but she said she lived in Moscow for a long time.

Though I didn’t see them today, there’s also an old lady/man couple that I see in there all the time and I’ve recently started saying hello to them, too.  The old man uses a walker and is hunched over, but he still gets out there and walks.  I find that really remarkable.  So many people just start to give up and when it hurts, they just don’t move around, which is the worst thing you can do is you get older. If you don’t keep moving, you won’t be able to anymore.  Given my family history of really bad arthritis, I want to make sure I stay as active as possible to try to avoid or at least delay all that.

I was sitting on the bench at the park and watching some of the people walking by and just wondering why people feel so compelled – literally COMPELLED – to be outside, to go to parks or things like that.  I feel it, too, obviously.  I wonder if it has something to do with our species having once lived outdoors, having to hunt, etc. to survive.  Hell, some tribes in the Amazon and such still live that way.  That just baffles me.  Life without the Internet just doesn’t make sense! lol

Just had a nice lunch of ham sandwich on whole wheat Wonder bread – that stuff stays fresh for ages and it’s so fluffy and yummy! – with some Autumn Vegetable soup.  Tasty and healthy, too.

I’m feeling so drowsy even though I just got up like three hours ago.  Going to try to finish reading Eat, Pray, Love while lying on the couch.  I’m sure I’ll doze off for a few.  Today just feels like a bit of a lazy day…well, except for the 2-mile jaunt through the park…  🙂